IDENTIFIED by Wales manager John Toshack as a potential future captain of his country, Aston Villa defender James Collins has confessed he would love the job one day.

And he expressed surprise yesterday at the decision by former Wales team-mate Jason Koumas to retire from international football 72 hours ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Russia in Cardiff tomorrow.

The 26-year old Cardiff-born player, who made a £5m move to Villa from West Ham United on September 1, will win his 31st cap tomorrow evening but admits it should have been more, but for a series of long-term injuries that blighted his time at Upton Park.

Now fully recovered and looking forward to a new challenge in the Midlands, Collins said: “The injury is behind me, I’ve moved on to Aston Villa, so it’s exciting times for me.

“I’m really enjoying my football at the moment and I was doing okay at West Ham before the move so I hope I can take all that into Wednesday’s game.”

And he hopes the move will open the door for Wales team-mate Danny Gabbidon to win back his Hammers’ first team spot after an 18-month lay-off.

“My departure has left a slot that hopefully Danny (Gabbidon) can fill,” added Collins.

“Danny has been back a while from injury, he’s training well and in the games he’s played he has done very well. Hopefully he can claim a regular spot there now and that will also benefit Wales in the future.

“We haven’t played nearly as much international football as we would have liked for one reason or another, but we are both experienced at this level and the sooner we are back in harness together we can help the younger players.

“I feel we both have a lot to offer and that’s why it’s disappointing to hear that Jason (Koumas) has retired. He has put in some great performances for Wales but he must have his reasons for making the decision and we have to respect that and move on.

“It’s not good for Wales to lose a player of his quality and the only positive is that it gives someone else the chance to come in and hopefully perform as well, if not better.

“I was surprised by his decision because he’s only 29 and has a lot of football left in him, but we are not short of talent in midfield and someone will come in to take his place.

“I love playing for my country and hopefully one day I’ll go on and be captain of the team. I love being away with Wales and I feel I still have a lot to offer.

“I enjoy coming in and seeing the youngsters doing well, so no-one is going to get rid of me just yet.

“At 26 I’m one of the most experienced players in the squad, which feels a bit strange. But I’d like to think the younger players are able to look up to me because I’ve been involved for a long time and know what goes on. Hopefully I can help the younger players make the sort of progress that is needed.

“There’s no point in talking about players who have retired because we need to focus on becoming better as a team and that’s what we have to concentrate upon.”

It’s 22 months since Collins and Gabbidon last played together for Wales in a competitive match, although they were both involved in last month’s friendly in Montenegro, which the home side won 2-1.

But Collins believes Wales can take heart from a narrow 2-1 defeat in Moscow last September, a performance followed a month later by a 1-0 defeat in Germany.

“Every game that comes along at the moment seems to be tough but when we played Russia over there we put in a great performance and were very disappointed with the result,” he said.

“Hopefully we can put that right on Wednesday.

“But we’ll all have to be at the top of our game because it’s going to be a difficult task which means we’ll need to perform as we know can.

“We played well in both games in Russia and Germany but in a qualifying group like this you need to turn good performances into points and we didn’t manage to do that.

“It’s a shame but if you want to qualify you have to be going to places like that and picking up at least a point. Any time you lose is bad in a group like this so we need to start winning more games.

“Sometimes you can play well and not get the result, so the defeats in Russia and Germany didn’t affect morale in the squad – if anything it gave us confidence because we know that on our day we can match the big sides.”

Cardiff City midfielder Joe Ledley, meanwhile, is set to play with a light cast to protect a broken bone in his hand.

The Cardiff City midfielder suffered the injury in his hand after slipping on steps while on holiday in Paris.

An FA of Wales spokesman said: “He’s having it strapped at a local hospital.

“The feeling is it should not cause an issue with him playing in the game, as long as the referee is happy. We will ensure the match referee sees it in good time, so he can have the okay to play.”